Gate Tower of Retezat

Turnu Porţii (Gate Tower), a matterhorn of the Retezat, makes for a fine climb. One summer, I was talked into it by a stranger from Germany, who must have tried similar things before (I did a climbing course ten years afterwards) but needed company and a helping hand, or rather shoulders, at some point. He led and I followed, we made it somehow – if my old (Warning: T'was 30 years ago!) memory serves me well, it should have been up to US grade 5.4 at the trickiest points. To the right of Turnu Porţii is Judele Peak (2,398m).

My memories are vague now but if you draw a "direttissima" of the side the pic displays, it would've been somewhere between this line and the jagged ridge, i.e. the right-hand edge of the wall in the photo, to that pretty vast porch halfway up - or, having second thoughts now, plus studying the photo you took which shows the right-hand edge well, I've come to think it could've been up along the ridge from the start: sorry, too long ago - anyway, it seems to me now that the first few dozens of metres was the hardest section. Of the rest I can remember next to nothing:)) so I guess it must've been much easier and the simplest way up onto the crest. I have no memory at all (!!!) how we descended but it was for sure down to the saddle you mention.
BTW The rest of the day we spent hiking through the wonderful nature reserve on the other side (beautifully preserved mountain pine forest, great tarns), got caught by a bunch of scientists/rangers (on a marked trail:)), threatened with fines and bears but finally allowed to go:D

Dziekuje, Jacek. I will try the back side one day :) As for the nature reserve (Gemenele), it's been an exception from the way nature protection areas were/are treated in Romania: the area was/is frequently patrolled and they take "entry only with permission" rule rather seriously. You two must have had a nice smile to escape the fines :)

Well, we had a map (next to impossible to get in those days) I'd been given by a hunter a few days back while we were camping in the valley between the Retezat and Oslea. BTW he warned us not to camp near the limestone Piatra Iorgovanului as he said the spot was frequently visited by bears (we both spoke some Russian:)) On the map, there was a marked trail we followed and there wasn't any precise no entry sign – neither on the map nor at the headtrail on the ridge. So I insisted the trail was marked, there was no clear ban, I was a student at the natural sciences faculty so we were environmentally friendly (all that was true:)), the country I come from might have seemed more foreign to them than Hungary:) – they hesitated quite a while and seemed to disagree with one another but finally decided to let us off telling us to leave via the shortest route, which was... off the trail, up across the slope towards the summit of Judele. On the way up a bunch of chamois crossed our scree path in front of us, and on the very top of both the slope and the day a marmot showed up whistling on a protruding rock. One of my best days in Romania.
Üdvözlet!
Jacek